Letter: Who should pay?

No doubt letter writer Bill Halling has Medicare or group health coverage for which he pays little or nothing.

Only someone in a secure position would oppose a provision in the Affordable Health Care Act assessing a 2.3 percent tax on the sale of medical equipment as part of Obama's goal to make health care affordable for all Americans.

Four hundred members of the Medical Device Manufacturing Association (MDMA) are lobbying Congress to abolish this "industry crushing tax," but who lobbies for the consumer? Individual plans are the last stronghold of unchallenged insurance abuse. The purpose of Obamacare is to lower the cost and broaden the availability of these policies.

Price forces older applicants to select highly profitable high deductible ($2,000 to $5,000 annually) plans, leaving many underinsured. Take medication? You're "rated," adding 25 percent or more to the premium. Those with an actual medical condition are "uninsurable" and locked out.

A more inclusive health-care system would solve these problems and increase customers for the MDMA, putting the 2.3 percent tax back into the pot that's paying them.